Question by crazy: Can a gluten-free vegetarian diet be nutritionally balanced? What about during pregnancy?
I am a diagnosed Celiac, thus I have to be gluten-free. I would like to stop eating animals, but I worry my nutritional balance would suffer. Do beans have much iron? How else could I get enough iron? What extra nutrients would should I look out for that I might be lacking with such a restrictive diet?
Best answer:
Answer by wyllow
With so much at stake – your health and the health and development of your baby – you should consult a registered dietician who is knowledgeable about both vegetarianism and Celiac. Your OB may be able to recommend someone. I’m vegan, so I completely respect your choice, but my only restriction is soy and I’ve never been pregnant.
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Of course it can 🙂 Beans have a lot of iron and protein but you shouldn’t really worry about that because pretty much anything you eat has protein. You don’t have to worry about ANYTHING you could get all your nutrients from just eating all kinds of vegetables and fruits nuts too. and eggs for the B12 if your worried about that. Dont take any supplements so just eat healthy and dont worry. You will do your child a BIG favor by eating healthy 🙂 Eat other things of course whenever you feel like it
I am a gluten free vegetarian:)
It can certainly be balanced. Im assuming that if you are pregnant you will be taking prenatal vitamins which should pretty much cover all the essentials, including iron. But beans do contain good amounts of iron, an even better bet would be eating lots of leafy green vegetables and sesame seeds(which have more calcium than milk and lots of iron)
Just so you know, its not really as restrictive as it seems. The only problem i have is eating out(restaurants or others homes) where I feel stressed and sometimes get a mini anxiety attack haha.
So just include things like beans, nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruits, grains(rice, quinoa, and teff are all examples of gluten free grains, all yummy too) I suggest if you are pregnant you need to be taking a prenatal vitamin, though.
Many people go through pregnancy as a vegetarian or vegan, and many go through as a celiac. Im sure the combination would be fine.
Im a member of http://www.glutenfreeforum.com which is a really really helpful site and its free to register so I would suggest going there and getting some advice from all the other celiacs like us out there:)
I’m a Celiac too and a vegetarian. I was diagnosed Celiac last year, but have been gluten free for 2 years now. I’ve been vegetarian for 25 years.
My iron is as high as a male meat eater (according to my doctor), so I must be doing something right?
I eat lots of different things. However, many of the soy products have gluten in them, so I have had to change the way I eat lately.
For example:
Breakfast:
Gluten free museli with chopped banana and milk/rice milk
Lunch:
Tzatziki dip, with tomatoes, cucumber, cheese (rennet free) and some rice crackers
Dinner:
Large mushrooms baked in the oven with olive oil, garlic and paprika drizzled over them
Steamed veggies – eg: spinach, brussell sprouts, snow peas, cauliflower, broccoli,
Put mounds of the steamed veggie over the large baked mushrooms, drizzle with Natural Greek Yoghurt (savoury) and sprinkle with Chilli flakes….
(this is such a yummy nutrious dinner)
Followed by a strawberry, banana, cinammon smoothie.
There are many other recipes of course, my easy to make Chick Pea burgers are delicious, easy to make and highly nutritious……. just do a google search for gluten free vegetarian recipes…